Symantec has reported the results of its 2012 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey.

The survey has revealed how willing SMBs are in adopting technologies like virtualization, cloud computing, and mobility, often with improved disaster preparedness as a goal. Out of the 2,053 organizations that were surveyed globally, 100 were from Singapore. The study has also shed light on the importance of embracing innovation to better respond to challenges.

Read on for the full press release.

SINGAPORE – Symantec Corp. today announced the findings of its 2012 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey, which discovered that disaster preparedness is closely connected with small and medium sized businesses’ (SMBs) adoption of technologies like virtualization, cloud computing, and mobility. The survey also revealed how willing SMBs are in adopting these technologies, often with improved disaster preparedness as a goal, and how the move is paying off for them. Out of 2,053 organizations that were surveyed globally, 100 were from Singapore.

Review and test your disaster preparedness: This should be completed at least once a quarter to ensure you are meeting your current security and backup needs.

Survey Highlights

Virtualization, cloud and mobility gaining SMB traction: It’s not just large businesses looking to cutting-edge technology, but a significant number of SMBs are adopting these innovations as well. Just under half of them (44 percent) are now taking advantage of mobile devices for business use. Virtualization is also on the radar of SMBs, with 40 percent either currently deploying or already benefitting from server virtualization. More popular still is cloud computing, with 55 percent deploying public clouds and a similar number (58 percent) implementing private clouds.

Effect of disaster preparedness top of mind for SMBs: In many cases, a desire to improve their disaster preparedness played a part in adopting these emerging technologies. In the case of private cloud computing, 61 percent reported that disaster preparedness influenced their decision, similar to the 60 and 64 percent who said it affected their commitment to public cloud adoption and mobility respectively. This held true with server virtualization as well, with disaster preparedness influencing the decision 53 percent of the time.

Early adopters enjoying better disaster preparedness: Whether by design or not, implementing these initiatives has improved the disaster preparedness of most of the survey respondents, particularly in the case of server virtualization – 81 percent reported that their disaster preparedness improved with virtualization. In the case of private and public cloud, they also saw improvement, according to 58 percent and 55 percent, respectively. Mobility also increased their disaster preparedness 52 percent of the time.

Recommendations
The survey shows the importance of embracing innovation to better respond to challenges. In order for businesses to best take advantage of this opportunity to improve disaster preparedness, Symantec recommends taking the following actions:

Start planning now: Develop a disaster preparedness plan today. Evaluate how strategic technologies such as mobile, virtualization and cloud can help in those efforts.

Implement strategic technologies: Adopt integrated cloud backup for offsite storage and disaster recovery, and automated physical to virtual (P2V) backup conversion so you can recover your physical system to a virtual machines in case of a server failure.

Protect your information: Use comprehensive security and backup solutions to protect your physical, virtual and mobile systems. You may even opt to backup to the cloud.

Review and test your disaster preparedness: This should be completed at least once a quarter.